Wednesday, August 19, 2009

Sample Letter to a Judge

An example plea letter to a judge highlighting the humanitarian acts and positive traits of the offender. In this case, a celebrity whose fans have taken decided to make a petition on her behalf. Regardless, whether she was indeed behaving irresponsibly.

Dear Judge,

We hope you will fully read and take into consideration the following sincere plea.

There is no lesson that Michelle Rodriguez could learn in 180 days that she couldn't learn in 18, or even 8. We do not believe that the imprisonment of this women is a demonstration of justice nor a fair punishment for her crimes. She is a good person. You were not allowed the opportunity to see Mayte Michelle Rodriguez the human, only the name on a legal document and if anything the "celebrity" name. To us, she is not a celebrity. We do not just support her for her few films or her professional career. We support her as a human being who, flaws included, has demonstrated so much kindness to others.

The Michelle Rodriguez we know when once stopped by a crying fan, told the fan that she's just a girl like her and took her with her to the movies and to hang out for the day with she and her friends. The Michelle we know was recently late to her own movie premiere, missing out on red carpet publicity for herself b/c she had stopped to talk to fans, sign autographs, and take photos on the streets of Toronto while the rest of the cast rode straight to the red carpet. She doesn't walk around with bodyguards, demand lists, nor a team of publicists. She is not a celebrity in any way that a celebrity is known. She speaks for herself, she's honest, and she's kind. She walks alone wherever she goes and NEVER turns down an autograph, a photo, a request for help, nor a demonstration of love.

The Michelle we know constantly strives to inspire women to be strong, self-loving, educated, and confident in themselves. The Michelle we know has a plan to develop a ranger program where kids can be taken from their confined and seemingly hopeless environments in inner cities and explore the world and learn about saving the environment and preserving nature. The Michelle we know does all she can to raise money and awareness for a small non-profit, animal-sheltering wildlife foundation in Florida run by a hard-working man and his elderly mother. The Michelle we know is in the process of writing an adventure movie for kids that will teach them the importance of showing love to animals, one's family, and to the world. This is the Michelle we know, plus so much more that you never got to see in your short time in a court room with her.

Whether she's walking in a runway show for MS Race for the Cure, appearing at US-troop supporting events, speaking at AIDS events, being honored by APCH in LA for her achievements and influence on young urban women, collecting funds for The Nature Sanctuary, or simply taking time out of her life to communicate messages of love to her fans....she does what she does for all the right reasons. She doesn't make hoards of money and she rarely gets publicity for any of her true loves which involve kids, animals, her family, and her fans. Instead she does it behind closed doors. What she also does behind closed doors is absorb every ounce of knowledge she can. Self taught, she's educated herself in history, art, science, metaphysics, psychology, world cultures, and the likes. The Michelle of today is not the same Michelle of 2 years ago who committed that second DUI, or even the same Michelle of a year ago. She is not perfect, and even she will admit she's made many mistakes, but she's ever evolving, as we all are.

Michelle has young fans who were rape victims, domestic abuse victims, of low-income upbringings and so on and they hold her as an inspiration that someone can come from a troubled background and overcome obstacles and find success b/c she herself did the same, growing everywhere from Texas to the Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico, losing her father young, and spending her teen years surviving the ghettos of Jersey. Michelle knows the responsibility she has and the opportunity for communication she has in her position, especially due to her highly publicized mistakes. She expresses this to friends and family and fans all the time. She is aware, and she does her very best. And she is always growing and is always trying to learn what she can from the "school of life" as she so appropriately calls it.

We are asking, nay begging you to have mercy on Ms. Rodriguez and reverse or lesson your decision for her to serve so much time behind bars. She is a good soul and has much to offer the world that cannot be achieved if imprisoned for such an amount of time. Please. Please rethink and lesson this sentence. Thank you very much for your time. And as Michelle herself so often says in response to anyone and everyone who shows support or kindness to their fellow man: One Love.